There will be some changes coming next spring on the board overseeing the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

Six of the 11 unpaid positions are up in the April 7 nonpartisan election, and at least two incumbents in those seats won’t be running again.

JUDY YEAGER and MIKE ZIRI, who each are elected from District 1, will not be seeking another term. GREG SRONCE, a lawyer in private practice and part-time public defender, plans to be on the ballot for another term.

Yeager served eight years on the Champaign City Council before moving to the capital city and was a Springfield alderman for a dozen years before being elected to the convention center board in 2007. At 72, she still works for the Department of Children and Family Services but said as to her elected position, “It’s about time to allow the younger ones to make some of the decisions.”

Ziri, chief legislative liaison for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, is completing his second four-year term and said, “It’s always good to have new blood.”

Ziri and Yeager both cited as a key accomplishment the naming of BRIAN OAKS as the center’s general manager. Both also served as the building underwent a $16 million renovation.

“It was wonderful to be able to take the center to the place it is right now,” Yeager said.

Damm is a minister and member of iWorshipCenter who runs Bar Church services Wednesday evenings at Stella Blue, a downtown Springfield bar. His full-time job is with a State Farm Insurance office. He is formerly with Midwest Family Broadcasting and said that in that role he was involved with convention center events. He also lauded the work of Oaks and said he’d like to look at ways to expand the convention center — hopefully without raising taxes, using means such as naming rights.

Damm is married and has a son. Yeager said Damm called her to find out if she was running before he entered the race.

“He didn’t want to run against me,” she said

Sangamon County Circuit Clerk TONY LIBRI hosted a fundraiser for Damm. The chair of the Sangamon County GOP, ROSEMARIE LONG, said the party has not yet endorsed in spring races.

Loftus, who is in the medical equipment business, was named to fill a vacancy in November and is seeking a full term.

“I want to continue to see the convention center and downtown grow,” Loftus said. “I would love to help in this process.”

Page 2 of 3 - Allmon, Sangamon County’s chief deputy coroner who also is a freshman football coach at Lanphier High School, said his fiancé lives in Divernon, outside the district, but no wedding date is set and she may sell her house, so he has yet to determine if he will seek another term.

“I do enjoy being on the board,” he said. “I think they’re doing a great job over there.”

Mills, 54, is retired from the state and on disability due to a back injury. He’s on city and regional planning and zoning bodies, has a county appointment as chair of a community service block grant advisory council, and is a district chairman, overseeing 11 precincts, for the Sangamon County GOP. He said he would be open to other political offices and that “should I be asked, I’d be happy to serve in a different position.”

“We’ve done a fine job as a board,” Mills said. “I do commend Brian Oaks and his professional staff.”

The taxing district for the convention center includes Capital, Woodside and Springfield townships. The official name of the board is the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority.

Gathering ideas

On a recent trip to Japan, Springfield mayoral candidate PAUL PALAZZOLO kept his hometown in mind.

Palazzolo and his family traveled to Chiba City for the Kiwanis International convention July 16-20. Palazzolo is a past president of the international organization, and his daughter, MARIA, was recently elected international president of Key Club, the high school division of the service club.

Palazzolo said he got to have dinner with the mayor of Chiba City, TOSHIHITO KUMAGAI.

That provided an opportunity, Palazzolo said, “to learn about his plans and goals for the city and to see if there was anything that might be … applicable to the city of Springfield.”

That mayor’s goals, Palazzolo said, included making his city of 900,000 residents “the easiest place to raise children in Japan,” with attracting more day care opportunities and having more free play areas and green space ways to move in that direction.

Palazzolo, now the Sangamon County auditor, said as a way to attract and keep young people living in downtown Springfield, “maybe we need to look at more green space here.”

Chiba City is about an hour by train from Tokyo, Palazzolo said, and is a major convention site. There, he said, nearby Tokyo Disney is a draw. In Springfield, he said, continued emphasis on the draw of Abraham Lincoln, as well as the renovated Prairie Capital Convention Center, should be stressed.

Palazzolo also said next year’s Kiwanis international convention will be in Indianapolis, and he used his time in Japan to talk up the idea that people should stop for a night or two in Springfield on the way there.

Page 3 of 3 - “As a past Kiwanis international president, I have the ability to kind of help persuade people to think about that,” Palazzolo said.

Palazzolo presented Kumagai with a small statue of Lincoln.

“His response was he can only hope to be as great a statesman as Abraham Lincoln was,” Palazzolo said.

Also on the trip were Palazzolo’s wife, SUANNE STAAB-PALAZZOLO, and his son ANTHONY.

In the family

The contract lobbying firm JAY SHATTUCK & Associates has brought on another lobbyist — TAYLOR SHATTUCK, the 22-year-old daughter of the firm’s namesake.

The younger Shattuck, a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana with a degree in global studies and a minor in Spanish, had interned in her father’s office for the past four summers. Her title is manager of government relations.

“I needed somebody else in-house to help me make sure that I’m meeting my clients’ needs,” said Jay Shattuck, of Gardner Township. He said Taylor has traveled internationally and communicates effectively.

“It’s kind of nice having a family business,” he said, and having a child “decide that they are interested in working with you and perhaps continuing the business on beyond my lifetime.”

Jay Shattuck has been a lobbyist since the late 1970s and has had his own firm for 17 years. Among clients are Humana Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals and Associated Builders & Contractors.